Microsoft and Sony battle again with Kinect and Move

After Nintendo threw a fireball into the video game industry with the Wii, Sony and Microsoft each asked the same question. And came to different answers.

“Can we do this without controllers and buttons?”

Or, perhaps more precisely, “Can we do what we want to do without controllers and buttons?”

Sony decided the answer was no, and the result is the PlayStation Move setup that launched in mid-September. Microsoft said yes, and developed what has become Kinect.

The Kinect motion sensor for Xbox 360 hit shelves at midnight — 12 a.m. today. The $150 add-on features cameras and sensors that, when paired with Microsoft’s sophisticated software, can identify and listen to people, recognize what they’re doing, pick up on full-body gestures, and translate it all to control games and entertainment.

Sony decided to focus more on its hardcore gamer base and develop a motion controller that can be adapted to, for example, first-person shooters. Sony built a gun attachment for the Move. And is saying that if people see their character wielding, say, a sword on screen, they want to feel something real in their hand.

“I think it’s just a broader range of experiences that we have,” Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment America, told seattlepi.com. “And that’s why we went down this path.”

But to Matt Barlow, general manager for marketing in Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, there’s just no contest. Kinect is better and more enticing because of what it is — a breakthrough in gaming technology that’s polished and dependable enough for the masses.

“We’ve got a (marketing) photo where we show the Nintendo Wii nunchuck, the PlayStation Move and then some empty hands,” he said. “I think that’s the biggest differentiator.”

I took home a test Kinect a week ago after talking with Barlow on Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., campus. My first concern was whether the Kinect cord would be long enough to connect to my Xbox 360, which is a good distance away from my television. The Kinect sensor must be centered above or below your TV.

When I unpackaged my new Kinect, I was treated to the first of many pleasant surprises: a long cord. I simply plugged the sensor into my Xbox 360 S (if you have an older model, you need to also use an included wall power adapter), scooted my coffee table forward and my couch back, and I was ready (after an Xbox Live software update).

Nick Eaton/seattlepi.com

My Kinect press pack.

First up? “Kinect Sports.” I wanted to go bowling. With the Kinect games, you use the sensor to navigate through all the menus; no controller required. Just move your hand around like you’re Tom Cruise in “Minority Report,” pause over the item you want to select, shove menus left or right — it’s quite intuitive and doesn’t take long to get used to.

On the loading screen for my bowling game the Xbox showed me some instructions, but I didn’t really need them. Been bowling before? You can bowl with Kinect. Another one of those pleasant surprises: Whatever you want your on-screen character to do, you just do it. Intuitive.

OK. Time for “Dance Central.” I don’t dance often, but I was in my own living room with the shades closed, so why not. There’s a respectable library of songs you can dance to, and though most of them are hip-hop or R&B or Lady Gaga, many were right up my alley. “Funkytown?” “Brick House?” “Poison?” I’m in.

The choice word, it seems, for Kinect is “intuitive.” In “Dance Central,” you dance along with too-cool characters on screen, mirroring their motions. We’re so used to looking and following along to things in a mirror, following along with Kinect games is just … intuitive.

And, for a non-dancer, dancing with Kinect? Fun. Pleasantly surprisingly fun. I shocked even myself by immediately thinking, gee, I should invite my friends over to play this game.

Courtesy of Microsoft

A screenshot of “Dance Central.” Click to enlarge

Enough with the games. (There are 15 more being released today and through the next few weeks.) How about the Xbox menu navigation? I wanted to test out watching the new ESPN service on Xbox Live with Kinect.

Yep. Intuitive. You can wave left or right to navigate live sports streams, highlight reels and ESPN studio recaps. The one time I’ve had trouble with Kinect was when, for some reason, I was watching a football game and the Xbox didn’t recognize my gestures. This has happened only once. So, I was forced to use the voice commands.

But perhaps the most pleasantly surprising thing about Kinect is its accurate voice-command system. At any time, say “Xbox” and a menu pops up from the bottom of the screen with more options to say. They work. You don’t have to yell. You can even mumble. Just don’t confuse it by listening to, say, a “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!” podcast in the background at the same time.

So far, my impressions here have been glowing. But for some reason I found myself, a few days after my initial awe, not caring as much. I’d get home from work and, instead of powering up my Xbox to play some of my exciting new Kinect test games, I’d revert back to watching “The X-Files” via Netflix on my PlayStation 3.

Courtesy of Microsoft

A screenshot of “Kinectimals.” Click to enlarge

I’m not exactly the target audience for Kinect. For me, it will be fun to continue testing the system and its additional Xbox Live integration, like Zune music and video services. But I’m not going to sit around playing with my fake pet tiger on “Kinectimals.” I’m not 6 years old, so I don’t really care.

But 6-year-olds will. So will their families. And teens who want to play the “Harry Potter” game. And adults who want to use Kinect for their workout with “Your Shape: Fitness Evolved.” And it would even be a great system to have for parlor-esque games during a cocktail party.

Indeed, Kinect for Xbox 360 is for a lot of people. It’s for more than just traditional gamers. You should just find out first — at Best Buy, at a Microsoft Store (the Seattle area’s Bellevue Square shop is opening Nov. 18), at a friend’s house — before dropping $150 for the sensor. (A 4GB Xbox bundle and a 250GB Xbox bundle also are available for $300 and $400, respectively.)

A screenshot of “Tiger Woods PGA ’11″ for the PlayStation Move. Players use the Move controller like they would a gold club. Click to enlarge

Reviews of the PlayStation Move also have been positive. With most games the system is quite precise. And since the Move wands include buttons, Sony’s motion controller is more conducive to traditional games such as first-person shooters.

Here’s how it works: The PlayStation Eye, a separate but required webcam-like add-on that’s been on the market for three years, picks up a glowing orb on top of the Move controller. The PlayStation 3 also brings in data from the Move wand via accelerometers and a magnetometer — like the Nintendo Wii — and synthesizes it all to control games.

“It’s very intuitive,” said Dille, the Sony executive. “You just point and shoot.”

We’ll see which motion system — the Kinect or Move — wins over more gamers. But it’s likely that the people who buy Kinect or Move will be buying them for different reasons. Some people will want to hold a motion controller for more precise gameplay; some people will want the freedom to run and jump and dance uninhibited.

Courtesy of Microsoft

The Kinect launch event Wednesday evening at Times Square.Click to enlarge

“I think customers judge it by fun rather than precision,” Microsoft’s Barlow said. Just as people learned to use controllers with buttons and joysticks, he said, “you’re going to learn how to compensate for that” imprecision.

Microsoft is going all-out to grab the attention of new casual gamers. Sony is doing what it normally does — enticing traditional gamers — this time with a motion controller for a new series of Move-optimized games including shooter, sports, dance and music titles.

“They’re going after this casual audience, but they have this core audience of gamers who play ‘Halo,’” Dille said of Microsoft. “We think (Move is) going to be pretty compelling to the non-Xbox 360, non-PlayStaion 3 owner.”